Compulsory school education in Italy produces poor results in terms of 15-year-olds’ performance on PISA tests, compared with other OECD countries, despite a relatively high level of expenditure, as discussed in this working paper.

Three out of four teachers feel they lack incentives to improve the quality of their teaching, while bad behaviour by students in the classroom disrupts lessons in three schools out of five, according to a new OECD report.

In most countries, girls and boys now show similar results in the OECD’s PISA tests of 15-year-olds. But systematic assessment of gender differences shows that students are still being held back by their own gender-related perceptions.